According to the Republican National Committee, Joe Biden spent a record 37 percent of his presidency at one of several favorite “getaway spots” in 2023. If MSNBC’s New Year’s Eve prediction proves true, the embattled president will begin his permanent vacation on January 20, 2025.
Steve Kornacki, MSNBC’s national political correspondent, meticulously explained how NBC’s final Biden presidency tracking poll of the year compares with those of other presidents heading into this reelection year. Spoiler: Biden’s numbers sucked at record levels.
“That’s the lowest,” said Kornacki, referring to Biden’s record low approval rating. “That’s the lowest in an NBC poll for an incumbent facing a reelection here.”
Among the top concerns for voters remains the 81-year-old president’s age and woeful incompetence. Let’s toss in the part that the alphabet networks never say: Joe Biden intentionally created the border crisis; he intentionally caused the Afghanistan debacle; he intentionally caused the gas crisis — and he intentionally implemented the disastrous policies Bidenomics.
Kornacki specifically pointed out that Biden heads into his reelection year with a lower approval rating than both Donald Trump and George H.W. Bush, both of whom lost their reelection bids.
Joe Biden seems poised to be the Democratic nominee. What kind of year is he had politically? Well, again, he started 2023 coming off those good midterms for Democrats and his approval rating of 46/50 wasn’t that bad, but he’s taken a hit this year.
And as we start to close out the year, our final NBC poll had him at just 40% approval, 57% disapproval. How does this compare to past presidents entering the reelection year? Here? You can see it. Here’s the 40 that we have Biden at right now. These are all the final polls heading into the election year, a reelection year that NBC conducted.
You just see all the reason President Trump got beat in 2020. He was at 44 heading into his reelection year. Bush Sr. got beat in 92. He was at 52 and heading south rapidly there.
But you see how that number compares. That’s the lowest. That’s the lowest in an NBC poll for an incumbent facing a reelection here.
The amazing part is that Biden doesn’t seem to give a damn, meaning that it appears he’s just trying to continue to do as much damage to this country as he can and run out the clock.
MSNBC's Steve Kornacki: Biden's approval rating is "the lowest NBC poll for an incumbent facing a re-election year" pic.twitter.com/W8MEDKLO77
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) December 31, 2023
Despite Biden’s disastrous presidency — particularly in 2023 — Kornacki expects the 2024 presidential election to be close, given the likely candidates. Still, he pointed out, three in four voters are concerned about Biden’s age and steadily deteriorating physical condition.
But it is a tight race when you poll Biden versus Trump at the start of the year and the average of the polls nationally, Biden had a two-point advantage.
Now, at the end of the year, it is Trump who on average has a two-point advantage here, a very, very close race, obviously. And what are the concerns of voters, the dynamics we’ll be talking about if this race does materialize? Joe Biden, of course, is the oldest president ever at this point, and his physical fit, his fitness his age. But three in four voters in our poll say it’s a major or moderate concern.
Big thing. And 24 is going to be Trump’s legal situation or their convictions. What goes on in the courtroom for him? 62% right now say that’s a major or moderate concern for them. Will that number change if there’s if there’s a conviction with that number change based on how these cases start to sort out? Big question.
The Potential Impact of a Third-Party Candidate
This is the wild card of wild cards. Kornacki went bottom-line with it.
[T]here’s not a big appetite for Trump versus Biden, even though it seems that each party, at least as we enter 2024, is poised to go in that direction. And that leads to this final graphic here.
A poll from The Wall Street Journal recently— they included a bunch of third-party options and against Biden and Trump, they added up to 17%. That’s a big question heading into 2024. Is it going to be a real third-party candidate to create a wild card in this?
No. Other than as a spoiler, I mean, and I don’t see any way that a potential spoiler doesn’t hurt the Democrat candidate more than the Republican candidate — particularly if it’s Biden.
The Bottom Line
I’ve followed presidential elections for more years than I’ll admit, but I will say this: I believe 2024 is going to be like no other I’ve seen for a myriad of reasons — on both sides. It will be close; accusations will fly, and after it’s over, the country will be even more divided than it now is.
